By RICK KARLIN Capitol bureau

Published 1:00 am, Monday, November 30, 2009

STILLWATER — Steven Weinstein first thought something was amiss a few months ago when he pulled into a convenience store outside Saratoga Springs and noticed a vehicle that, like his own, was bearing a Vietnam veteran license plate.

He asked the driver where he had served. The answer: Germany.

Weinstein, an Army intelligence veteran who flew radio surveillance missions in a light plane over hostile territory in Vietnam, got to thinking. How many people have the commemorative plates even though they may not have been within a thousand miles of the war-torn Southeast Asian country?

"I suddenly started seeing a lot of Vietnam veteran plates. ... I said, 'wait a minute; that's not right,' " he said. "It sort of diminishes the idea of serving in a combat zone."

Weinstein, 61, got his first Vietnam veteran plates in 1995.

But the requirement that veterans serve "in country," as the Republic of Vietnam was referred to, seems to be lost in history, since the plates are now open to anyone who was in the military during the "Vietnam era" between Dec. 22, 1961 and May 7, 1975.

Weinstein raised the issue with his local Vietnam Veterans of America chapter, and wrote to lawmakers. As it turns out, some states do require veterans seeking the plates to have served in Vietnam, but in New York it appears that a combination of bureaucratic inertia, the vagaries of politics and the desire to reap extra fees from the specialized plates has meant there's no such requirement.

What they learned was the DMV simply didn't have the capacity — nor the will — to have their workers interpret the military separation papers, called DD-214s, that veterans are supposed to display when seeking a special license plate.

DMV spokesman Ken Brown said the state's Vietnam veteran plate has been out in its current form since 1993.

Like New York state, Vietnam Veterans of America doesn't require members to have actually served in the Republic of Vietnam, said Rick Wiedman, executive director for policy and government affairs at the national group.

Over the years, some veterans have started organizations only open to those who were in combat, but VVA accepts anyone from the Vietnam era. Weidman says the group's attitude is that military personnel didn't really have a choice as to where they would end up.

Moreover, veterans during that era faced danger in numerous locations around the world.

Foote said the VVA chapter president in Middletown, Leo Ortiz, lost a leg to a land mine in the demilitarized zone between South and North Korea during the Vietnam era.

"I was in a hostile-fire zone," added Bill Mahoney, another Vietnam-era veteran who served in the Korean DMZ, where he ducked periodic potshots and rocket-propelled grenades.

Among the states that do require veterans to have been in Vietnam to get the plates are Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania, as well as Maryland, where VVA is based.

In order to get New York's military plates for veterans of the Persian Gulf war, applicants must have been in the military in the Persian Gulf between Aug. 2, 1990, and April 6, 1991.

One possible reason for the difference: The Persian Gulf plate was created by legislation passed in 2004. The Vietnam plate came about through a directive by former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, said DMV spokesman Nick Cantiello.

Almost everyone agrees that the extra fees generated by Vietnam veteran plates — as well as the reams of other speciality plates available — are the primary reason states continue issuing them.

Foote said that when New York first came out with its current Vietnam veteran plate, some VVA members didn't like the design, which features the image of a palm tree and a Huey helicopter. So the VVA applied for and received the DMV's permission to issue its own custom plate for members. The group takes responsibility for approving who gets the plate, which features the organization's logo.

The price tag of $28.75 was the same for either design.

"The DMV decided to go with both," said Foote. "They could make extra money on it."